PALATINE, IL-  The 2018-19 Harper College women's basketball team picked up their first win of the season against Olive-Harvey on Saturday.  Despite only having five active players, the Hawks came out with a 63-39.

Harper started off the game slowly, falling behind Panthers early 8-4 before going on a mini-run to even the score back to 8 all.  The Panthers were again able to extend a 4 point lead before Sydney Heinrich (Hoffman Estates/Fremd) went coast-to-coast at the buzzer to make the score 14-14 heading into the second quarter.  The Hawks kept their run going into the second quarter as back-to-back baskets from Kaela Drum (Arlington Heights/Hersey) gave Harper their first lead of the game.  The entire second quarter was the Kaela show as she scored all 10 of the Hawks' points on 5-9 shooting.  At the end of the first half, however, the Hawks were trailing 25-24.

The back and forth scoring continued into the third quarter as the teams traded leads until a Hailey Martino (/Palatine) layup and a Taylor Gunn (/Rolling Meadows) jumper built a three-point Harper lead.  Heinrich connected on the first of two free throws before grabbing her own miss on the second and putting it back up for a layup.  Gunn hit two more free throws and Martino followed with a layup of her own to make the score 39-29.  Olive-Harvey notched a basket in the closing seconds to bring the lead back to single digits heading into the final quarter.  The fourth quarter was all Harper when Kaela Drum (Arlington Heights/Hersey) and Sydney Heinrich (Hoffman Estates/Fremd) each had 8 points and went 5-8 from the field.  The big fourth quarter was enough for the Hawks to build a big lead on the way to their first victory of the year with a 63-39 final score.

The Hawks shot 25-70 (35.7%) from the floor, but were efficient from the line knocking down 12-17 free throws.  Kaela Drum (Arlington Heights/Hersey) was a force for the Hawks, putting up career-highs with 24 points and 15 rebounds to go along with 2 assists, a block, and a steal in a stat stuffing performance.  Taylor Gunn (/Rolling Meadows) also notched two career-highs with 16 points and 9 rebounds and Sydney Heinrich (Hoffman Estates/Fremd) had a new career-high with 15 points and pulled down 9 rebounds.

The win moves the Hawks' record to 1-7 on the year and they will face off against Malcolm X College on Tuesday.  Tip-off is scheduled for 5:15pm in Chicago.